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Russia Hopes Iran Will not Withdraw from Nuclear Deal – Lavrov

Russia hopes that Tehran will not quit the nuclear program agreement but at the same time that Washington will not violate its obligations under that document, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"As for Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's statement to the effect Iran might quit the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, I do hope that this will not happen. I also hope that the United States will not violate its commitments to the Joint Plan, either", the Russian top-diplomat stressed.

According to him the United States had confirmed within the established deadlines Tehran's compliance with its obligations under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Lavrov pointed out that the new unilateral sanctions that the US took against Iran had no bearing on the nuclear program, but its concerned Iran's policy in other fields the US is critical of, such as human rights.

He stressed that US sanctions against Iran can undermine balance on the nuclear deal.

"Unilateral sanctions are essentially illegitimate. When these sanctions are used to upset the balance on a certain problem in favor of some party, and such a balance was achieved on the Iranian nuclear program, these are irresponsible moves, which may upset and undermine that balance. One should not come up with such provocations, since the issue at hand is the interests of a vast region where we would like to secure a non-nuclear status rather than some individual country's national interests", Lavrov resumed.